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In 2019, New Zealand passed “The Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Act” which included establishing the Climate Change Commission, a Crown entity to provide independent advice to Government to help Aotearoa transition to a climate-resilient and low emissions future. The Climate Change Commission’s first draft advice was released in January 2021 and, amongst other things, highlighted the opportunity to transition away from fossil fuels for domestic space and water heating. Compared to natural gas or LPG the use of wood burners for domestic heating, while a carbon neutral heating option, has the disadvantage of contributing to the deterioration of local air quality. In order to improve winter air quality, Environment Canterbury (ECan) has introduced a pseudo real-life wood burner authorisation test method known as Canterbury Method One (CM1). Appliances passing the CM1 test method qualify as Ultra-low Emission Burners (ULEBs) and are the only wood burning appliances allowed to be installed into houses within clean air zones in Canterbury. This paper provides updated information on the numbers and design trends of ULEBs authorised to date, and comments on how manufacturers have achieved the ULEB performance limits. The ongoing improvement of ULEBs provides the opportunity to transition away from fossil fuels toward a carbon neutral fuel without generating adverse air pollution impacts. This paper provides a summary of the journey to-date. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The myriad impacts of climate change (including environmental, social and economic outcomes) and the need to act urgently to limit these impacts is being increasingly understood by influential decision makers and the general population with significant climate change impacts such as sea level rise and migration of populations due to increasing vulnerability already occurring. Improving our understanding of climate change is critical to making swift and significant change – something which is essential in sufficiently reducing atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases (GHGs) and slowing climate change. Whilst these changes, including New Zealand’s commitment to net zero emissions by 2050, will greatly contribute to the significant reductions in GHG emissions required, it is important to note that significant change can also be achieved through the cumulative effect of many small, everyday changes. This paper explores the potential cumulative impact of the general population making many small, everyday changes to reduce GHG emissions to help slow climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on the launch of "Building a Bluegreen Future," by New Zealand's political party, National. It is an environment policy paper that reports on the progress of New Zealand since 2009 on issues related to the economy and the stewardship of the natural environment. It was put together by National's Bluegreen Caucus and includes the party's work on topics such as climate change, energy and transport.